My wife and I are looking to acquire a flat in Blythe Bridge and are in fact using a Blythe Bridge conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Lloyds TSB Bank have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Blythe Bridge lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?

Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Blythe Bridge lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

I have a decision in principle. The bank mentioned the mortgage came with free conveyancing. Does this mean I have to use their panel solicitor as I would prefer to appoint a specialised conveyancing solicitor in Blythe Bridge?

You should check but the the probability is that allocate you one of their panel lawyers if you accept the "fee-free" incentive. Call the bank to determine if they allow a cash alternative. In the past a few lenders offered a £250 cashback as a further option in which case you could put that amount towards your preferred conveyancing solicitor in Blythe Bridge.

I'm buying a new build house in Blythe Bridge with the aid of help to buy. The sellers would not move on the price so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The sale representative suggested that I not inform my conveyancer about the side-deal as it will impact my mortgage with the lender. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

Are there any apps to assist me to search for a Blythe Bridge solicitor on the Platform Home Loans Ltd conveyancing panel? I have wheels and am happy to travel upto 25miles to meet the conveyancer.

Feel free to make use of the facility on this page. Please pick a bank and your location and you will see a number of Blythe Bridge conveyancing lawyers based on proximity. We have listed some Blythe Bridge conveyancing firms towards the end of this page and you can call them to check if they are on the Platform Home Loans Ltd member panel

We own a leasehold flat in Blythe Bridge. Conveyancing was finished in 2011. I have been told that I mustn’t let the lease length fall too low. Why is that a problem?

Blythe Bridge leasehold properties are for a fixed term - often ninety nine years when they started. However many appartments in Blythe Bridge were built or converted 35 or more years ago and so such leases now have fewer than 80 years left to run. That may seem like a long time however Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage companies generally need leases to have at least 75 years unexpired to be mortgageable. This means that when you come to sell the property you will need to extend the term of your lease if you are nearing seventy five years. To maximise your property value you should be thinking about whether or not to extend your lease long before you come to sell it. Please note that there are significant benefits to taking action before the lease reaches even eighty years as when the lease is below eighty years the premium to be paid to extend starts to escalate.